The sheriff in Windsor County was arrested on Tuesday after he was accused of sexual misconduct by several victims, Vermont State Police said.
Sheriff Ryan Palmer, 39, was cited for two counts each of lewd and lascivious conduct, solicitation of prostitution, aggravated stalking with a weapon, obstruction of justice, inciting a felony, and accessory before the fact.
State police released scant details on Tuesday about the alleged misconduct, noting that more information will be available once Palmer is arraigned in Rutland County on Wednesday.
Police said the investigation began in July 2025 after they received numerous anonymous tips alleging financial misconduct in the Windsor County Sheriff’s Office, which Palmer was elected to lead in 2022.
The allegations received a round of news coverage, and Palmer denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m not hiding anything. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t do anything illegal. There’s nothing to hide,” Palmer told the Valley News last year.
But state police detectives said they eventually received information about alleged sexual misconduct by Palmer.
“Over subsequent months, state police identified several victims, who provided statements and evidence that supported the sexual misconduct allegations,” a state police press release said.
Police arrested Palmer at his office on Tuesday and released him on conditions that include a nightly curfew.
Controversy has followed Palmer during his law enforcement career. He was charged — and later acquitted — of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment after shooting and wounding a man during an 2014 undercover operation while working for the Windsor Police Department. And after taking over the sheriff’s department, he failed to formally commission a handful of his new employees as required under state law. The oversight was discovered not long after one of those employees was involved in a fatal, on-duty shooting.
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